Steve Shelton Jr! The Shelton racing and dealership Ferrari Land Rover and Porsche family!

Speaker 1  0:02  
Jeff Sterns connected through cars, if they're big wigs, we'll have him on the show and yes, we'll talk about cars and everything else. Here he is now, Jeff Sterns

Jeff Sterns  0:19  
Jeff Jeff Sterns connected through cars with Steve Shelton Jr. And if you have any idea about the world of exotic cars are for our you can't hear the Shelton name without thinking of what I associate with the Lauderdale Ferrari store. Now, did you have a second location your family's

Speaker 3  0:39  
we had several locations. The Ferrari store was acquired by an existing dealer in 82. And then we moved across the state open the Jaguar Porsche Land Rover store in Naples, which is a nice little seaside village in the southwest coast of Florida.

Jeff Sterns  0:57  
What years did you have Jaguar Land Rover?

Speaker 3  1:01  
That was about 92 to 2004. Yeah, so we actually got Aston Martin shortly before we sold.

Jeff Sterns  1:13  
I think that's Terry Taylor.

Speaker 3  1:15  
Correct. Yeah. And I went on to have a short career with his with his group, MSI. And then we built Land Rover in Fort Lauderdale in 94. And then we built a dealership in Fort Myers not too far from where I'm sitting. And that was Jaguar, Audi, Land Rover on on 41, which is like, I mean, you know, 41. It's like us one on the East Coast. And, you know, very prominent coastal highway, you know, three lanes each way. And stuff like that.

Jeff Sterns  1:47  
iconic name in the car business isn't amazing how you carry yourself, you're not just so full of your rightful celebrity stuff. You act like almost a normal human being.

Speaker 3  1:58  
Yeah, still still up early in Tibet, or at least type type of thing. But it's been, you know, I don't I don't know anything else. I mean, it's just always been, you know, people look at me cross eyed. And they say, how was it growing up that way. And, and that's really what I know, it was just a lot of fun, and you don't miss it until it's gone. Because you're, it's the business. And, you know, it's, it's pretty high for high profile. It's pretty sexy. And, you know, customer events and things like that, and getting involved in motorsports, which is where we where we began. And that's where our association with the car business came from, is being involved in motorsport. My, my uncle was a real estate broker, and still is, then my dad was in the advertising business, but they were all the while involved in motorsports, from the time they were like, 20 until their until now, they're both still driving. So my dad's my dad's 73, and my uncle's gonna be 79 in June, so.

Jeff Sterns  2:58  
So they were like Enzo Ferrari, where all of this business was just to support the rate? Well,

Speaker 3  3:02  
it ended up that way. I mean, they really got a really good deal of buying the Ferrari store, I think the folks that were involved in it were it was kind of a big downturn, you know, beginning of the 80s. And there wasn't a lot of really exciting product. And they really just got it in at the right time. And, you know, didn't overdo the facility and had a lot of really good people around them, you know, like anybody would say, you know, make sure you got people that are smarter than you working for you and treat them right. And they're gonna stay with you. And then you form an allegiance that way. So, yeah, not different from what I'm doing with my folks here. So. So when they bought that store,

Jeff Sterns  3:40  
this is when it actually took a sale skill to sell a Ferrari. It wasn't quite clients bringing a gift, Brent, to get on the list.

Speaker 3  3:53  
Yeah, it wasn't, it wasn't an order taking position. So yeah, I mean, they, I, the way I understand it, and I was there for it, but the way I understand it was they basically didn't turn down any allocation at all. They weren't afraid to accept vehicles that were not selling well, you know, like the 3084 valves and the Monday owls and, you know, things that were just kind of like, you know, mean, or neat. I mean, if you drove, you'd be like, Wow, that's really cool. But they weren't like a sexy like a Testarossa or a 400. I have the 412 Well, those were all prominent at 384. And they basically just said, just given us we'll get them done. And they kind of didn't, you know, lost some money on certain cars, but they, you know, just like, Yeah, I mean, you just you do what you got to do to to get the cars that you want to get, you have to take the cars that you don't necessarily want. So that's what they did, and, you know, built a business and allegiance by clients and, you know, for a long time, I think forever I think they got stung a couple of times, but they didn't charge anything over list price for any cars. I mean, they just they just

Jeff Sterns  4:58  
now was just at a time where they could have, excuse the question. Sure

Speaker 3  5:01  
they did one time they went out one time, they got in trouble one time as a, a good client of ours who was very picky and who I came in at the end, I was a service director at the Ferrari store in the late 80s, late late 90s, early 2000s. And he complained of inefficient air conditioning and a brake squeal that we couldn't get rid of on his F 40. And, you know, limp Florida lemon law, you know, was at that point was, you know, three complaints within 24 months of ownership. And then you get one final repair attempt. And they had charge. Yeah, and I think, you know, tissue on the car or invoice on the car, what the dealer paid for it was 182,000, Elice. Price was 247, or whatever, it was a good markup, and the man paid a million dollars for the car,

Jeff Sterns  5:47  
and lemon law doesn't pay them. Do they pay with the customer paid? Or do they only pay up to him as if it were the customer?

Speaker 3  5:53  
I think, I think the Yeah. And then Ferrari came to us and said, we lost this case, we're having to buy this car back, and you're paying for half of it. So that was kind of like a crack of the whip. And very shortly thereafter, the F 50s. Were only allowed to be leased by previously owned Ferrari clients. So you couldn't, you know, if I won the lottery, I couldn't walk in and say I want to have 50. They're like, No, you've never owned a Ferrari before. You're not getting one and go we How can you do that? I'm gonna pay cash. Can't pay cash. You know,

Jeff Sterns  6:19  
there's been a few cars like that. Yeah,

Speaker 3  6:20  
I'm sure. But they have 50. I remember distinctly because I was front and center for that. And I thought they were like, how can you? How can you say that you? I want I'm gonna pay cash. I'm like, Well, no, you can't. So yeah, it was it was pretty wild.

Jeff Sterns  6:33  
Now the lease only a 50s for the prior Ferrari client. And then that wasn't the only thing required, I mean, that the prior Ferrari owner, was cost of admission to get talked to about it, and then it was still. Do you have any idea? This is interesting. Do you have any idea? Now let's say you've got 50 cars and 400 people, prior owners that want one then where they interviewed or who referred them? Or how many did they own before it any idea what the criteria was to get a lease think that

Speaker 3  7:08  
you couldn't have any demerits? If you know what I mean? I think you had to be off the radar from a negative standpoint, and they would talk to you. So anybody that had, you know, call Customer Care, or, you know, I want to speak to the president of the company right now, I'm a value client and that kind of thing. They just didn't want to be a part of, of that negativity. When I say they I didn't mean my family. I meant for our North America. Yeah. Factory told you who you can sell, correct? Yes. And I, if I remember correctly, we got two cars. We were allocated two vehicles. It's a lot. It's huge. That's twice as many as one by the way.

Jeff Sterns  7:45  
The buy from percentage, same. Exactly, exactly. Yeah. So this is so interesting. So dealing with that client, you know, I was never Ferrari dealer, but I was a Rolls Bentley Lotus dealer. So I, you know, I probably dealt with some of that same clientele. Let's clarify for the audience that never sold cars, or you know, doesn't operate in that space, you say that. They didn't necessarily want someone who called and gave the factory grief, I'm an important guy. Just about the entire client list. If not all were an important guy or gal. And all of them could take out a full page ad in the New York Times and complain about you. Right, and all of them had a reason that they should get on the list or you know, not I mean, I've had waiting lists cars from prior to Bentley Continental GT, I did not have waiting lists cars because I had silver spur and Brooklands and as your and gotten in large, you know, big bodies. So I didn't experience that. Someone asking me to buy till continental came out I want to say oh four but they all had the reason that they should first or be on the list or think that you dealt with that. Non stop. So now the lease the customer who leased one because I didn't know this? Did they have first option to buy it at the end or no option of it? Yeah, they had first started over again and first option

Speaker 3  9:24  
and it was you know, as you know, ALG gives out the the predetermined price of the car, they insure it was a predetermined price, hey, this is what it's going to be at the end of the lease and you know, if there's 500 cars built and 500 of them, you know, or 400 of them burned to the ground. That's still the price it doesn't matter because now there's only 100 left kind of a thing. So it was like Hey, take it or leave it you're gonna sell it to somebody.

Jeff Sterns  9:50  
Was that determined at the time of the lease or open and like at the end and they were worth more than they were originally I

Speaker 3  9:57  
think I think that it was predetermined I I think it was just a, you know, here, here's what the thing is. And it was like it was something that would be very reasonable these days, I want to say it was like 12,000 hours a month or something like that for at least Brian, it was. I can't remember. I'm paraphrasing and be guessing. And I could call a dozen people right now that know exactly what what the numbers were. But I didn't do my home. Well, you know, I don't recall, but it was, you know, when I'm 27 years old, I'm thinking whole. That's like 10 times what I pay for my mortgage right now. I mean, that's insane per month, but obviously a third at that point in their life, and they're chosen to lease one of those cars, then.

Jeff Sterns  10:40  
Well, but it's that in that case, it was a cash intensity or cash able customer anyway. So what's the churn? Yeah, one 2%. So I'm asking this in a respectful way, but a playful way. And we're talking about a little bit at the beginning. Because the name Shelton, and then in your email signature I got Molly made. How did you end up there?

Speaker 3  11:04  
Well, it's my dad's friends with the guy that brought it from Canada, the United States golfing buddy. Yeah, so I started the existing franchise. So 30 years old here in Fort Myers area. So one of the oldest franchises in the country, based at Ann Arbor, Michigan, and just happened to have contact with this gentleman, I started looking for local businesses where I could be my own boss and create my own schedule and work as much as I wanted to and send a couple things to my dad. So what do you think of the sneeze? Like, why wouldn't you just look at a franchise, it's all structured for you and everything. So well, we looked at Molly made a few years ago, and it wasn't making as much money as I really need to be comfortable, and I don't want to get another job kind of thing. So he called David McKinnon and he called me back like, five minutes later, he goes to Fort Myers for locations for sale, the people that the people that that own it, have owned it for nearly five years, and they're in their 70s now, and they're kind of tired, and they'd like to sell it. So their opportunity and almost seemed like it was meant to be so we've been here for four years. Plus,

Jeff Sterns  12:11  
are you enjoying it,

Speaker 3  12:11  
I love you know, I, I love the interaction clients, I miss the car thing, but I do a lot of racing and a lot of car events, you know, do some some concourse judging and hosting and things like that. So I still get my car fixed. And I do enjoy working with people in their home. And I do enjoy working with some people that appreciate making a consistent living, it's fun to look at, you know, it's not a with all due respect to my technical folks that I've worked with for many years in the car business. You know, they're making good, good money. And they're needed commodity in our in our industry, in the car industry, but looking at people that that come in, and they're working five days a week, and perhaps leave here and go work another job to make the ends meet. To build and solidify customer relationships, to be able to provide them with a better living is, is very, very satisfying. To me.

Jeff Sterns  13:11  
That's where the reward is, or the is there the inner any of the inner fun. I say that sarcastically interdepartmental fighting between, say, your pre owned car department manager and the service manager about you're not getting my cars in fast enough, but I'm paying you the same rate.

Speaker 3  13:28  
Yeah, yeah, there was a little bit of that. But you know, in here in the business, there's, you know, it's like having having the world and your office because some some countries traditionally don't get along with other countries. So they have a preconception. So we try and iron that

Jeff Sterns  13:46  
out early. So that's where you're the marriage counselor in the

Speaker 3  13:49  
Yeah, in you know, the primary language in the office of Spanish and growing up in South Florida. I probably know more Spanish than I'm given credit for. So if I know they're talking about a situation, then I can stop it pretty quickly. Make them speak our

Jeff Sterns  14:03  
language. So I want to go back to Let's Talk cars again. So 78 SCCA Runoffs, do you mind talking to us about that a little bit? Yeah.

Speaker 3  14:15  
You know, I was there for that. And I don't remember anything about the race. But I do remember after the race, my you know, my two two guys that I looked up to the most obviously, my dad and my uncle that that we spent so many so much time with starting with racing and just you know, general, you know, family get togethers and things like this. But they were racing constantly. And in 74 was my first run offs we went to at Road Atlanta. And, you know, a handful years later, it's 78 My dad has been working so hard and my uncle's been working so hard to develop these Lola formula racers that they're that they're running. And out of a field of I think somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 cars, my dad qualifies fourth. And then my uncle qualifies, I think ninth or 10th. And so, you know, that's pretty good. I mean, having qualified outside of the top 10, the last couple of years in a row. And the factory van Diemen drivers and Van Diemen was like this, you know, this huge organization out of England. They got two drivers on the front row. So they got they got the Front Row, front row locked out. Next to my dad is a guy named David Loring who's driving the car that Dan Gurney designed, called the eagle. It was the beginning of his design program. And so it's the two Vin demons in the front row. David Loring and the eagle and my dad and forth and my uncle a couple of years back. And so you know, having having some beers the night before they were I wasn't I was seven. And so you know, Dad and Tom say, hey, you need to get up to the you know, get up to me and we can run together. And we just run together as long as we need to with a couple laps ago. It's it's, it's every man for themselves. And so the third lap of the race, I've got a picture somewhere of my dad and my uncle running nose to tail through turn one at Road Atlanta behind David Loring running 123 Loring first, my dad's second and my uncle third. They had passed the factory of Indian drivers who had faded for whatever reason setup setup was or misfire or whatever it was 18 lap race and I think it was 10 or 11 laps into it. The story that I heard was my uncle decided to pull out inside of my dad in turn one, and they locked wheels. And both cars went sliding off the track, running second third of the National Championship, which is obviously the pinnacle of amateur racing. And so my dad collects the car. And so finishing things like 11/3 Whatever my uncle didn't finish. So I'll give you a little backstory for that is that we both would travel, both families would travel and motorhomes. We had our you know, our whole enclosure was with a solid, you know, 34 foot whatever the deal was, is that we would run one family would run the trailer up and one family would run the trailer back it was a double decker, open, open trailer. So one Formula Ford was on the top and one was on the bottom, they'd lower the thing, put the big one or put the car up top and late, raise it and stick the other one at the bottom. So I remember Get a load in the car up and my dad and my uncle obviously didn't talk. My dad was was obviously very upset that he had a chance to Pete and maybe get a podium finish. So we get everything loaded up. And my my uncle and his family leave with the trailer because we towed it up there. And my mom was exhausted. So she laid down with my little brother who was like an incident at the time. And as I normally do, I sat right on the transmission hump of the of the motorhome right next to my dad looking out the front window. And I look out I'll never forget it because I thought it was unbelievable that my dad would do something like this to my uncle. And I look out and I said Dad, that's Uncle Tom. And he says what I said that trailer up there the truck in the trailer, that's Uncle Tom. And Tom had gotten a flat on the side of the interstate on the trailer. And so we whistled by doing about 70. And my dad held up a number that I'm holding behind my hand right here. And we just kept driving. And I was like, I didn't understand why How could that be that serious. And his blood was still boiling from, you know, five hours earlier. And so they get Tom got home at four in the morning or whatever it was after, you know, the rusty bolts had broken off on the trailer and they rode home at 40 miles an hour because they couldn't go faster, etc. so on. So I remember that distinctly at seven years old. I just and years after that my dad had saved that trailing arm that was bent and so had the tire mark in it. So it's meant to be this and it was like that and put it on like a piece of wood. You know, Merry Christmas from your little brother. Thanks. Thanks for the memories or something like that. It's still floating around somewhere. But they can laugh about it all these years later because they ended up being co drivers very successfully for many years. But there was a family memory that was kind of raw for a little bit.

Jeff Sterns  19:36  
That was the piece that didn't make it to Wild World Sports at the time. That's correct. Yeah. So looking at my notes, the new technician that started working at Shelton in Shelton Ferrari in the early 2000s. He was what kind of a prankster

Speaker 3  19:54  
the opposite. He was the victim of a lot of pranks just because he was I won't name him. But he came from he was a factory guy. He was kind of the guy that worked at the corporate New Jersey office, and a super nice guy. But when you are the new guy in a fraternity what happens? You get hazed. That's just the way it is. Usually it's you know, usually it's it's 30 guys that go into 120. You know, 120 guy fraternity and all those guys get get their Brock's busted. And anyway, so it was a new guy. And he was bound and determined to prove that he was way more efficient than everybody else. And so he did a timing belt job on a Testarossa that's a rear subframe out, complete service of the engine, replacing the water pump and the timing belts. And, you know, I think it was plugs and wires and things like that, but, you know, a full service, you know, they call it a 15k. But it was every five years, regardless of the mileage, which is usually the time rather than the miles for that car. And he did it in about a day and a quarter. Like he was given the car on a hypothetically on a Wednesday. And about halfway through the morning, the next day, he had it running, which was, you know, I was I admired it, because it was like a 40 hour job. He instead he was there after I left, so it wasn't like he cut, you know, cut corners or whatever. Anyway, he, you know, looking around the car got a bolted in started up and everything. And so he made the mistake of going to an early lunch. And I witnessed it, I wasn't going to stop it, because I knew that they were just, you know, doing what they normally do, which was take up the bucket of coolant and another bucket of oil and splash it up because the car was raised off the ground, you know, six feet or seven feet. And they throw oil everywhere and coolant everywhere. And then we go to lunch, as he and he's still brutal that and came back and he is like frantic, frantic, frantic looking for everything leaking, and everything's leaking. And, and, you know, nobody's out there. And he's just like, you could see him like, why that, like, what did I do? And he checks everything. And he cleans everything up. And the levels didn't go down. He didn't understand it. And I came over, I'm like, are you okay? It's like, I don't understand. I don't understand what happened. It's like, everything was good. It ran good. I ran into temperature. And I'm like, I don't Well, I mean, see anything wrong with it. Now he is now. So of course, he lowers it down. And, you know, one of the other guys has a red started up and rev it up. So he starts it up and rev it up. And of course they got the branch on the counter. You know, tap and he turns to turn off turn off drive drunk. So I think we left them on, we let them off the hook after 15 minutes of him looking around and check. Oh my gosh, he didn't know how to take it. But it was you know, if we're not picking on you know, we don't like yeah, kind of a thing. But that was that was just one of the time and we were in a neighborhood to the Ferrari dealership was was backed right up to a residential neighborhood. And we used to get in trouble all the time by the neighbors they call the police, you know, a couple of times a week and revving up revving up loud racecar engines out the garage door and then slamming the door shut and watching them. You know, jumping over the fence trying to get to this stuff. It was if there was if there was cell phone cameras back then I'm pretty sure that I would have been arrested because I wasn't doing anything illegal, really. But we were having a lot of fun making fun of the neighbors. So

Jeff Sterns  23:59  
I used to get the calls from the neighbors behind the dealership. And also and you may have heard this to some test drive complaints.

Speaker 3  24:06  
Yeah, yeah, we, you know, we used to run a missions. And nobody was willing to do the emissions tests in any of the customers cars or any of our any of our you know, company cars or in stock vehicles. So we would have to, we have to go get them probed. And I owl Roberts who still works there and is one of the senior members of the for our community, one of the most well respected Ferrari restoration technicians in the world, I would imagine. I mean, he was when I left in 2008. And, you know, 15 years later, but you'd go to my uncle or my dad and say, Hey, I need Jr to take this car to admissions and he would hand me the keys to an F 40. I'm like 27 So I'd have to run it down to 595 which is the cross street, you know, the cross expressway to get across the state. And I'd have to run went up 95 To get it to temperature so that it would actually go into a little bit. You know, wouldn't run wouldn't run Rich said it would pass emissions. Exactly. So you know, have specific instructions to just run the crap out of it. And so I did and a couple times were pulled over, hey, you're not supposed to be driving that fast. So I could drive it in third gear and do 8590 miles an hour and one of those things. And one particular occasion I lost this chin spoiler that had been knocked loose, and it rattled up underneath the car and cut some of the cut some of the fiberglass under there. We weren't on carbon then. But that was an expensive visit. So wasn't my fault. I didn't do anything. But

Jeff Sterns  25:40  
so when you explain to the cops, Listen, I'm not speeding, I'm just warming up the car for an emissions test. Get that gets you anywhere.

Speaker 3  25:48  
It does, because I used to carry business cards with me the probably the most prominent one was is I was actually working in Naples. And this didn't involve a Ferrari. It belonged to a very client of ours named Murphy Coles. And he lived in Naples, his family's in Naples, but he had a 512 M which is kind of a you know, later version of the Testarossa, you know, 12 stone or in the back, Big Five leader, and he needed service done on the car. And I was working late in Naples. And I was dropped the vehicle off in Naples, on I'm sorry, in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday morning, and then catch, catch a ride back over to work the sales floor in Naples. So back when they didn't have SunPass, you throw your 75 cents in the bucket. So I got through the go up through the box first, second, third, fourth. And I'm just wondering the thing out the complaint was that he was that he was disappointed with the performance of the car. So I didn't see the cop. But I did see him on my rear view. And he pulled me over. And I pulled off the side of the road very respectful as I always am to the to the to the Leos. And he looked at me and he goes license registration, please. When I pulled out the registration, I gave my license, kind of hand him a business card. And the real cool glossy cars, it actually had a Testarossa on it. And he goes, Why are you give me your business card? And I said, Well, if you look, the license doesn't match the registration. That's actually a client's vehicle. And he actually was wearing glasses, and he did this. He goes, You mean to tell me that you're doing 158 on my highway in somebody else's vehicle? And I said, Yes, sir. And he goes, What are you doing in? Or does he know? And I said, Yes, sir. I'm transporting it across the state to our dealership on the east coast, the customers stating that he is unhappy with the performance of the vehicle. He goes, Well, do you want me to call him because I'll call him and tell him this thing hauls ass. And I said, Yeah, and he goes, were you in fifth gear? I said, No, sir. I would just shifted into fourth gear. And he, he went like this. And he said, slow down. Yes, sir. And I watched him peel away and I peel away and I thought, wow, I always heard that if you're going over 100 miles an hour, you're going to jail. Yeah, well, that was significantly higher than jail. And if I'm if I'm lying, I'm dying right now. Because I didn't realize this the significance of the situation, I may lose a tire at 150 miles an hour, you're all set. You're gonna end up on one of those one of those ponds, or one of those rivers on the side of the Turnpike, or the Alligator Alley. So but that was that was a

Jeff Sterns  28:31  
or imagine hitting an alligator crossing.

Speaker 3  28:33  
Yeah, that's yeah, that's that's happened. Not by me, but I've seen it.

Jeff Sterns  28:37  
Well, I've been pulled over once or twice because when we're showing these cars or testing these cars, it's you know, you're not trying to be a big shot. It's just top of second gear. Like you said, it can already be right. Yeah, but I've gotten out of I don't know I mean, ultimately, that I got threatened with a ticket but i How about let's put that I ended up offering police opportunities to drive if they'd come by later or another day.

Unknown Speaker  29:06  
And let go. That's awesome. I like that a lot.

Jeff Sterns  29:10  
So keep that in the back of your mind ever ended up going up? So now I'm looking at the notes in it says that you are the service manager at Shelton in the late 90s When the restoration tech l Roberts stored an engine for the fourth car ever built by the Ferrari factory, please. I mean, I don't care who you are. That's got to be interesting. Yeah, it

Speaker 3  29:33  
was pretty cool. And I was given a pretty quick education on the Ferrari factory, the first handful of vehicles and I don't know what number went up to and you know, you probably I could call 10 people and get the answer, but they would alternate identification numbers. So 001 was a street car 002 is a race cars 003 was a street cars 004 was a race car and so 004 see, well was 166 Mm, that was owned by Jim Clark still owns that as far as I know. And it had a complete restoration on we did the engine, we didn't do the coach work. But I spoke to him on a monthly basis because he would run a checkup, we'd run a bill up for him and I just call him I had a credit card on file. And we handcrafted all of the pistons that needed to be re rebuilt, there was some some similarities to some motorcycle pistons that would work with regards to the bore. And the strength of the engine was a 12 cylinder engine, of course of the 12. And, and so l built that from scratch, and it was it was 1000s of hours 1000s getting getting things built, and kind of reimagined because they weren't that efficient back in the 40s. And it's still hustling around I think, I think Mr. Clark's dad owned that car. He was he owned the Long Island Automotive Museum. And that was that was part of their collect their personal collection. But Jim, Mr. Clark, Jim Clark was the founder of Netscape, which is one of the most successful Internet browsers ever. You know, you've got Google Chrome now and in Safari for Apple, but Netscape was one of the first ones included, you know, like AOL as well. So it was neat to talk to him because I would call and his secretary would answer after I faxed over a bill, where we're at fax over the invoice. And we had a punch list that we would go through, and I had to lock my doors that nobody would interrupt us. And it was it was quite literally a two and a half to three minute conversation. And back in the in the late 90s. You know, right around 2000 running a credit card for 18 or 20. Grand. And, you know, for parts and breach per call. Oh, yeah. For call. Yeah. And I would send them over and have them promptly done it. He was just like a, you know, one an update on where we were with a particular item for the engine. And then we started working hand in hand with the people that were doing the coach work, and I can't remember where that was being done. But it was elsewhere. It was like up in New Jersey or something.

Jeff Sterns  32:09  
Oh, classic coach, maybe

Speaker 3  32:10  
it might have been them. Yeah. Yeah. And I know for you. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And sent you know, we started corresponding with him to try and, you know, liaise and get and get the carpet back together. And that happened after I left. But it was really neat to be a part of the process and see the passion. And I think I ended up seeing that car I went to, to Catalino. And I think Mr. CART brought the car there as a completed item. And I thought hey, I think I put my hands on that engine a few times. So it was really nearly need to be a part of that. Now.

Jeff Sterns  32:44  
I guess I can't count it as a sale because I didn't deliver it. You have sold the first Porsche Carrera GT. I did in Florida. I thought I sold the first Bugatti

Unknown Speaker  32:56  
Oh, which one

Jeff Sterns  32:59  
first, ever, but I didn't deliver it. There was a land developer in Naples. very mean and cantankerous. Today starts ringing a bell let me know his wife for a million dollar wedding ring. And she let me know after she told me What a bastard he was and don't put up with his shit about how much the ring was. But I was dealing with him on a number of cars and you know how it is you start getting personal with your clients and you become their person and whatever cars coming out they ask you about it doesn't necessarily have to be your make. So we've got eBay, Iran, you know, Bugatti was coming to United States and they were naming there. We didn't even know where the stores were going to be. I think it was two stores. And I had an offer written that I wasn't going to be a dealer but I just figured I would know you know, know who it is and broker the deal and when and at 1,000,002 50 subject to not to exceed 1,000,002 50 It deposit on the car took a lot longer. It never happened and I don't think they came in that cheap. You get it done. No, I didn't deliver it. Wasn't that I could say that I was selling the first mugabi So no, it the price kept creeping up. Anyway, I'm like, Look, it's only a little more than your wife's ring. I mean, what's the big deal? Yeah, come

Unknown Speaker  34:33  
on. No, get off your wallet.

Jeff Sterns  34:35  
But you sold the first GT Porsche Carrera GT. Yes. To Preston head.

Speaker 3  34:41  
Mr. Preston? Yeah, one of my longtime clients. I've always enjoyed spending time with him because he's, I'm a closeted redneck. I I'd rather I'd rather be in flip flops than dress shoes. So the deal was, is that we started taking orders. We have a Porsche store now The polls and you know, neat little boutique store wasn't very, you know, wasn't going to compete with all the big stores champion or anything like that wasn't wasn't going to be that big. But, you know, Porsche is a very desired brand still is always will be. And we took an order and the order was, I think it was like, I think it was like a $50,000 deposit. And we started, you know, we, I think we had like 12, or 13 deposits. And the guy that had the deposit down, I called him and I said, Hi, sir, just want to let you know that we just received an allocation for Carrera GT, we need you to come in and help us design your car. We've got all the color swatches and you know, I mean, you know about this, you know, leather samples and all that. And so he made an appointment with us to come by a couple days later sat down with his wife, and they looked at stuff and picked out the baseball glove interior and that real bright orange, like Georgia clay, and over Gray was really pretty car. And I called him and said, Hey, they've allocated the car, hey, they're building the car, hey, they're shipping the car, hey, the cars here. And he called me back and he says, Steve, I can't really take delivery the car said, what? Have we done something wrong? And he says, like, I I'm in the middle of a divorce. Okay, and he says, I can't acquire anything else. My attorney forbids me and tells me that it's not going to go well, unfortunately, I didn't really understand. Didn't understand. So well, you know, can we hold it for you? Or you know, so we started calling down the list. He said, I realized, the older guy says, I realized that you got $50,000 My money, keep it if you have to take $1 off, take the dollar out of my 50. And give me back what's left. So we just start calling down the list, second, third, fourth, fifth, we get all the way to the 12th and start turning around circles. I was in charge of the car. And my dad is a very, very humble, quiet. He doesn't ever get excited about stuff. And he showed up at the sales meeting about two weeks later. And it was I want this bleep and car gone by the end of the day. I don't give a damn what it takes. I'm not paying for more floorplan on this car. Get it gone now. Like racking my brain. I'm like who can i Oh, so I don't know if you know but route from Ferrari. He was our he was my uncle's roommate at University of Miami. Obviously, back in the 60s and 70s 60s. And I called button and said hey, do you have Preston cellphone number? He goes, Yeah, what are you going to? What are you gonna do? I said, Well, I'm gonna try and some a Carrera GT. He goes, Oh, he'll like that. He's got all the other cars I got. Alright. So it's like 915 After the sales meeting, my dad's up in his office, you know, trying to calm down. Ring the phone. I call I call the phone, phone rings and ello. And I said, Hello, Mr. Han, who's this? And I said it's Steve Schoen Jr. and I can hear a bunch of ruckus in the background. He goes, who? Perfect. Oh, no, he doesn't remember me. And I said, Steve Shelton, Jr. Stay the you Okay, son with a with a North Carolina draw. I said, Yes, sir. Are you okay? Yeah, I'm out Vegas playing playing the slots with my wife. What are you okay, and you need anything? And I said, Sir, do you have a Carrera GT? He goes, what? I said, Do you have a Porsche Carrera GT? He goes, No, no the supercar. And I said, Yes, sir. I got an Enzo I got from you. And I said, Yes, sir. I've got a Porsche Carrera GT. It's brand new. It's got less than 20 miles on it. Do you want it? What color is it? I said, it's gray. And he's he goes, I got that cool. Orange interior in it. I said, Yeah, he goes, All right. Well, you know, I don't pay sales tax. Right. I got my dealer's license. So call you you know, Cliff, call cliff and let him know that I'm getting another car and organized transport and he'll get the money to you okay, buddy. How's your mama? I said, good. He's good. She's She's good. I'm thinking holy shit. This just happened in 90 seconds after some niceties and any so how much is it? I said, it's $448,300. Okay, don't charge them sales tax. I'll get you my number. Okay. I said, Okay, good. All right. Sound good talking to you. So good luck, sir. You guys. Thank you. And Hello, sweetheart. What? And I walked up to my dad and I shut the door. I said, I just sold your Carrera GT. And he says what? I go Yeah, I just called called Preston and sold your career. GT goes, holy shit. I can't believe I didn't think of that. It goes will. He didn't argue with the price or anything. I said no. He told me he's not paying sales tax. And he goes, I don't give a shit. You know, we got to get rid of it. 450 grand 450 grand. And so I followed the car over there on a transport they came and picked it up with their own truck and delivered it right to his little compound right at the Swap Shop on Oakland Park Boulevard and forth already won. And he's always, you know, very genuine and, you know, never forgot where he came from. But that was a really, that was really fun story. I still tell that story quite a bit.

Jeff Sterns  40:09  
When you're telling that story. I'm thinking of my own client who reminds me that you know who your description of him reminds me of. But here's the thing that I got out of selling exotic cars. I mean, I loved I always fell in love with mica, I always love customers, regardless of type A car. I mean, when I was selling the Lincoln's the Mercury's and the Cadillacs that we're talking about, these are the World War Two vets and I learned a lot of great luck. Like you know, they would guess I'll guess how long we've been married, you know, like they were so proud of certain things but the exotic car client Well, first of all, when we got the rolls and Bentley franchise this our new rep. Goes uncle goes from Spain. First of all, piled us into a 98 Continental are British Racing Green these I'm gonna give you an easy car to sell. And of course, he gave us some age unit that some talking to us about our branded goods display, you know, the glass counter, that side should go in parts, but he's got to go in the showroom because a man could come in with his wife or perhaps another day, his girlfriend.

Unknown Speaker  41:27  
I don't really think about that.

Jeff Sterns  41:28  
I'd like a second thought, and I'm coming off the World War Two vets driving Grand Marquis, you know. So what I learned about the exotic car customer, when they were impressive, I found that they were more impressive. Because they lived in an entourage kind of a world where nobody's giving them any. Very rarely are they getting legitimate feedback. Everything's how great they are, how smart they are, or Yes, sir. They're CEOs, they're whatever. They're entertainers. They're athletes, whatever they are, right. So for someone to stay is humble, as Mr. Preston and his genuine, when he's got people around them, handling all of his stuff. To me, I mean, an impressive person is impressive. But to me, that's even more impressive, because he's operating, he's growing in such a vacuum. That you know, for a tree to grow this way, because of the wind or because of the sun or whatever, they're not getting feedback, they're in a vacuum or everything they do is good, because of the people around them or the hangers on, you know what I mean? So I have so many people that I'm thinking of in a warm way as you describe this fella that are and there were plenty of jerks. I don't have to tell you that either. But the ones that were impressive, fella that you just described to me was times 100. Because what they had to have inside of themselves from a fiber standpoint, without someone else slapping them saying you are a jerk last night, because no one did that to him. You know your behavior modifies for your family or friends like mine does. Because someone's that you are a butthole you know, and are you hurt that person's feelings? You're like, oh my god, you you know, but a lot of these people, no one gave me any negative feedback.

Unknown Speaker  43:25  
Because they were scared they were gonna lose their lifeline. Yeah.

Jeff Sterns  43:27  
So I love that. And I had a guy, that first name. Orville was an asphalt paving guy who to the day he died, ran the steamroller or whatever, you know, from Indiana, that I could also call but with odd car, you know, you know what kind of cars someone like. He wouldn't be an Enzo or Carrera GT guy, but he'd be a Rolls Chinese, or you know, anything, you know, and had probably 30 Some of these cars in indoors. But I could call him like that. And it was the same kind of conversation always the same, just exactly that conversation. And the same thing if he wanted or if they wanted, it was just like a matter of logistics. So I always said that selling cars was a marketing job. selling a car got in the way. And you your relationship. I'm looking at my notes. Mr. Preston. The marketing job I'll put in air quotes was the relationship that you continue to maintain with him the way he took care of that. sale was just the thing that got in the way of all of that because, you know, we'd stay in touch with these customers and they had itchy trigger fingers. So you'd sell them obviously, certain customers easily a few times a year, right? Something but there might have been alive of care along the way. But the transactions weren't that hard. When that was there very often, maybe not always quite like that.

Speaker 3  45:12  
Well, I had taken care of breaston done this on the service side of Ferrari. So you know, me well growing up, and then he was confused. And then it was just, you know, not to say that sale sale sale sale sales, you know, that relationship is important to where they come back every 18 months, or you call them on a perspective, like you said, with your Chinese eye guy and said, Hey, I got I got this car is it make sense to you? And they go, Wow, I love that car. That's, that's, that's fun. When you have

Jeff Sterns  45:39  
I got something in your car, you know, like, whatever, right? But this beautiful thing about your service relationship is I mean, you were like, legitimately taking care of them, you know, and coming from the sales side from the variable side. You guys were my lifeblood. I mean, I mean, I know it sounds a little cliche, that service makes a second sale. But I was very, very, very fortunate that our customers had relationships in our service department on Unreal, you know? Thank God because it sure made it easy when it was time for them to. Now you are hired by BBC Top Gear.

Speaker 3  46:19  
Correct. So phone rings, one of my best buddies, Doug Smith is working for Derek Bell son, Justin at Justin. Yeah, he's a great guy and Mr. Bellows as well. And and Doug and I are very close. I talked to him twice today. He calls me and he says, Call me back. You owe me. And so I call him back. And I'm thinking he's got a racing gig for me this is and like, like, spring of 2006 or something or something like that? I don't remember exactly. And I call him back and I said, Hey, man, what's up? And he says, are you busy on the SO and SO day? And I said, I mean, it's far enough out, I should be fine. Let's I got jury duty that I don't know about. So what's going on? He said, I got a call from Morosa Motorsports Park. They gave my number to BBC because they're running a running they've Top Gear as rented the track to do an episode of, of of the show there. And I was embarrassed to say I'd heard of the show, but I'd never watched it. Just having been immersed in the car business so much. I didn't read magazines. I didn't watch TV shows involving cars. I didn't do any of that. I just was involved in it so much.

Jeff Sterns  47:34  
No kidding. Because Wow, what a cult following. It was

Speaker 3  47:37  
like, it's like changing, you're changing your oil on your car. When you work on cars all day. You know, are we technicians like I don't even want to do that. I'm just gonna pay somebody to do it. And I'll be done with it anyway. So I said, Okay, he goes, I'll call this girl back and give her your number. I said, Sure. So five minutes later, the phone rings and it's one of the producers call me from England. So I make make an appointment to go up tomorrow. So meet with these, these two fellows with BBC and I have a Land Rover demo because I'm a service director at Land Rover, Fort Lauderdale at the time, drive them around the track a few times, we just kind of get to know each other and they say, Well, we think you're a perfect fit. Sounds like you're been around this track a handful of times and I had just let my FAA license lapse in my understanding was their plan was to put me in in the driver's seat, and have me drive some high performance American cars, you know, Steeda Mustang, which is a local, you know, local brand over here. Callaway Corvette or, you know, Hennessy Viper, or some I don't, I don't know what the plans are. But because they didn't have any international license. They couldn't get insurance coverage. So they amended, pardon me the plan and went and bought $1,000 cars from from a Buy Here Pay Here, just outside of Miami airport when they arrived. So each of the characters the guys on the show, James and Jeremy and the hamster bought, I think they bought a Cadillac, a Dodge Ram pickup truck and like a z 28. And so I show up the day that show up the day of the filming. And I and I, they're standing there standing there and they all show up. And this guy reaches in this box and pulls out this driver suit this white driver suit that is right over there with my name on it. And I and I know man, that thing looks big. I'm a bit I'm a big kid. Now I'm in my 50s though, and this was you know, 15 years ago and I said man, I think it looks really big. They said put this on underneath it. And it was like a pregnancy suit. Like a big belly on it and boobs and the whole deal. I looked at my son not wearing that. They had measured me for a suit but they added like 10 inches around the waist so that I would look more American. Well, even though I have a lot of English friends, very close English friends. And they call that in England, they call that taking the piss, which means just busting balls, like just, Hey, man, we're just, you know, I'm gonna be tomorrow, you're gonna pick on me tomorrow. But right now we're picking on you, and you're a big kid. And you're American. So they wanted somebody more American. So I said, I'm not doing it, you can find somebody else. And the producer grabbed me by the shoulder and walked me to the side and said, Hey, I don't know if you read that little short contract that you read or that you signed. But it says that if you're the reason that their production is delayed, you're in charge of all the charges, or in the tracks not available for another 20 days. So you're they're gonna pay for all the plane flights and all the hotels and all of that, and we can sue you for it. And I looked at him, I said, to you, man, so I was anonymous. So put the put the Tubby suit on, put the stick suit on, put on the helmet they gave me and I drove three piece of shit cars around Moroso then it was PVR. And now it's defunct. And it was fun. And my buddy Doug was there and other friend Aaron Weiss was there

Speaker 3  51:15  
that was me, it was hotter than blue blazes. It was like beginning of July and Palm Beach. And there was not a whisper of any sort of breeze. And I'm wearing a three layer grey suit with a you know, with a pregnancy suit underneath it, which I don't need any more, by the way. And

Unknown Speaker  51:35  
so it was it was it's beautiful. Yeah,

Speaker 3  51:37  
I retired it, I got it. I got a dry clean and hung it up across my office. But it was a really neat experience. Two of the guys were really, really kind and there was one that was not kind. And I'll leave it at that and I might get in trouble for this interview. But care then come get me for everything I'm worth, including the soup.

Jeff Sterns  52:00  
So, Steve, awesome, man. Awesome. So what would we be surprised to know about Steve Shelton Jr.

Speaker 3  52:10  
I'm probably the funniest guy that you know. I've been told by many people that that including my dad, my dad is still disappointed that I didn't pursue acting or stand up or both. Just I get my sense of humor from my mom per family is just bizarre. And I've got a quick wit that more days that go on I realized that that gift that not a lot of people have so I enjoy sharing that gift with other people and making them laugh there's it's one of my favorite things going fast. Having a cold beer and making people laugh. You know, aside from obviously family joy, but but it's really fun to make people laugh. To recall funny things happened 15 minutes ago, you know to to bust on my English buddies at the pub. And yeah, it's just I really enjoy it. It's I missive it doesn't happen. So I go racing, I'm the last life a party, I'll tell you that. And what would you want people to know about you. Not everybody that grows up in a very, not everybody that grows up in a very, very blessed environment. Our don't recognize have to be kind to people in the world, you can't just kind of put blinders on and I'm above that, you know, so I, I grew up very blessed with a family that didn't need anything really. And I just never never I always look at people in their eyes and just know that, you know, they're they're the same as me. I'm the same as them and just because I grew up in a nice house around nice people you know, that didn't need anything doesn't mean that I don't know that something I'm happy to help I'm happy to provide and I think that I think I don't want to say anything other than I just I really enjoy this business because I can provide for some people that that really really enjoy it back me for for stopping and asking about the kids and you know, like we had a lady that was displaced from the home. And before I could organize anything, all of the ladies in my office got together and gathered stuff for her new new appliances, new beds, new dressers, new everything because I said we need to get together and do this. And my team went ahead and got everything done before I can even lift a finger or pull up my wallet. They had extra bed they had an extra dresser. It was so neat to see you know, I mean it's like you know like I said I always have people that are smarter and more motivated than you are. And it was really neat to to experience that and maybe made me feel good about the team that I've got here and Molly made.

Jeff Sterns  55:12  
Very Yeah, very proud of them. Thank you, Steve. Thank you. Pleasure. Thank you.

Speaker 1  55:18  
This has been Jeff Sterns connected through cars

Transcribed by https://otter.ai